Heirloom Tomato Panzanella

Thank you all for the great anniversary wishes! We had another spectacular dinner with a six course tasting menu at Craigie on Main. . . and I left the camera at home! The food was so delicious, the wine perfectly paired, and as much as I wished I had my camera, I wanted to take the night off from being a food blogger! My favorite course was the arctic char, a most perfectly cooked, melt in your mouth, fatty fish, completely delicious. But everything was amazing, and the service completely perfect. I love how Craigie is fancy and casual at the same time, not pretentious but not quite homey either. I just love it.

Anyway, today’s recipe takes advantage of my most beloved summer fruit, the heirloom tomato. I can not get enough of their quirkiness, their bold, beautiful colors, and the freshness these tomatoes offer. I will be very sad when they are gone.

For yesterday’s dinner (husband’s side dish) I started with a baguette that I bought and left out on Sunday. Three days later it was nice and hard and ready to be part of an heirloom tomato panzanella.

A variety of heirloom tomatoes, washed and cut into chunks, made the colorful portion of the dish.

For some flavor and crunch I added in a bit of chopped red onion, no more than 1/4 of a cup.

And of course there was cheese, goat to be exact. Creamy, fresh, local goat cheese added the satisfying fat and creaminess that I needed to make this a meal salad.

I did not take a photo of the salad with dressing because it’s just not pretty! My dressing included 3 cloves of garlic, a jalapeno, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar, and a big drizzle of honey. I of course ground some salt and pepper over the top as well. Delicious.

I made my husband a steak on the side and marinated that for about an hour in the same panzanella dressing mixture. No photo, steak really isn’t very nice to look at, in my opinion!

I haven’t been promoting my CSN Stores giveaway as much as I should, so I am extending it an extra couple of days. I want to hear what you love about the changing seasons, so check it out!

I have been such a slacker on posting. . . no food and wine pairings, “Wine from Where?” postings or other wine reviews in awhile. Coming soon, I promise! Where does the time go?

24 comments

Looks delicious! Good thing the Copley Farmers Market is tomorrow. Guess I will be headed to the Siena Farms stand to pick up some of their beautiful heirlooms. And as luck would have it, Iggy’s is right next door! And the goat cheese guys just across the green. Done, done and done!

I’m glad you had such a wonderful time at Craigie and totally don’t blame you for taking a night off to just enjoy the meal without worrying about getting the perfect shot These heirloom tomatoes look gorgeous – what farm are they from?

I got them at Trader Joe’s in their “locally grown” section. I can’t remember if it said what farm, but I am hoping they really were local! The other side of the produce aisle had heirloom tomatoes from Mexico, so I hope these were at least more local than those!

Perfect description of the atmosphere at Craigie. I agree, steaks never look good. I always take pictures when adam cooks me one, and then never post them, because ew a huge thick chunk of sorta red meat. who on earth wants to stare at that?

Glad you enjoyed Craigie — and it’s always good to have those sans camera nights.

I love this panzanella recipe. And I am loving all the heirloom tomatoes right now. I want to move somewhere I can get them year-round. Or maybe just keep moving each season to where they are in season. Ha ha.